NOPD officer resigns after suspension for making offensive comments about Trayvon Martin case

The white New Orleans police officer who posted insensitive remarks on an online news story about the killing of a black Florida teen resigned Tuesday afternoon, one day after the department suspended him. Officer Jason Giroir, who is under investigation for his role in the shooting of a young black New Orleans man earlier this month, resigned in light of the scrutiny over comments he posted on a wwltv.com story about an unrelated fatal shooting in Florida last month.

Giroir, 35, of Covington, wrote "Act like a Thug Die like one!" on an article about citizens rallying to protest the killing of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed 17-year-old who was killed while wearing a hooded sweatshirt and walking through a gated community.

Martin's encounter with a gun-wielding neighborhood watch volunteer has sparked a national debate about racial profiling and the morality of "stand your ground" laws, which allow people being attacked to defend themselves with force if necessary.

Giroir, who joined the NOPD in 1999, resigned shortly after 3 p.m. today upon learning that NOPD investigators had sustained misconduct charges against him and that a disciplinary hearing was being scheduled, according to a NOPD news release.

The department determined he violated internal regulations regarding professionalism, professional conduct, and performance of duty, the release states.

"My responsibility to the people of New Orleans, as well as to the professional officers on this police force, demanded I take swift action in this matter," Police Superintendent Ronal Serpas said in a prepared statement. "I have accepted Giroir's resignation, and believe it is in the best interest of this department and this city."

On WWL-TV's website, after a commenter named Eddie Johnson criticized Giroir's initial comments as racist and questioned whether a hooded sweatshirt makes someone a thug, Giroir responded: "Eddie come on down to our town with a "Hoodie" and you can join Martin in HELL and talk about your racist stories!:-P"

View full sizePart of the comment stream on wwltv.com between NOPD officer Jason Giroir and others concerning the Trayvon Martin shooting in Florida.

Giroir's wife also posted a similar comment about Martin -- "He acted like a thug and died like one" -- under the WWL-TV story.

Giroir's attorney, Eric Hessler, said his client apologized to the NOPD in his resignation letter.

"He chose to resign as a personal decision because of the unintended turmoil his comments caused," Hessler said. "Of course he regrets making those comments."

Hessler said he didn't believe that the violations against Giroir warranted termination and pointed out that other officers had violated these same rules and faced light discipline.

The resignation came hours after Danatus King, head of the local branch of the NAACP, and others held a news conference to denounce the comments and demand Giroir's termination.

King said the city is on the verge of civil unrest. He said Giroir's statement about about "another black youth killed under questionable circumstances" only flames the "incendiary atmosphere."

"This has touched a nerve in our community," King said.

King went through a long list of cases involving the NOPD's mistreatment of young black men, ranging from police killings and cover-ups in the Danziger Bridge, Henry Glover and Raymond Robair cases in recent years, to the Adolph Archie and Algiers 7 cases of decades earlier.

King and other community and civil rights activists have long painted the NOPD as a racist organization.

He noted that thousands of tourists and visitors will be visiting the city this weekend for the NCAA Final Four basketball tournament. "How many of them are black?" King asked rhetorically. "How many are wearing apparel where they would look like a thug?"

Last summer, a flap erupted after a high-ranking NOPD commander reportedly told dozens of officers during a roll call meeting to target young black men in and around the French Quarter on the weekend of Essence Festival, perhaps the nation's pre-eminent festival celebrating African-American culture. Some officers who heard the instruction viewed it as racial profiling.

The supervisor, Commander Eddie Selby, retired shortly after the NOPD initiated an investigation. City and police leaders decried the remarks, while saying the NOPD is a diverse agency and that the remarks were inapprpropriate and not reflective of the NOPD's mission.

Around that time, King and associates called for a federal probe into the Mid-City Security District, a neighborhood police patrol that utilizes off-duty NOPD officers. An e-mail from a patrol supervisor surfaced in which he decried the low number of traffic stops made, and threatened to take officers off the overtime patrol if the numbers didn't increase.

The NAACP and others said the order encouraged racial profiling and illegal stops.

It was on one of those patrols -- an overtime shift -- that Giroir stopped the Sipp brothers earlier this month. A shootout ensued shortly . Police allege Justin Sipp opened fire on three police officers, prompting them to shoot back.

Two officers -- Anthony Mayfield Jr. and Michael Asevedo -- were severely wounded. Police officials have not suggested that the shooting was unjustified, though an investigation is ongoing. Giroir, who was uninjured, fired his gun once. Mayfield fired several times. Police said Sipp fired 14 bullets at police.

Giroir was reassigned on desk duty in the wake of the shooting. He passed a psychological evaluation and answered investigators' questions about the incident, police spokeswoman Remi Braden said. After 16 days, in mid-March, Giroir returned to active duty in the 8th District.

The NOPD's investigation, meanwhile, has yet to be turned over to the district attorney's office.